You’ve been working for quite a long time already and you are not even building the first foundation of your dream home. And you are thinking “there might be something wrong.”

Please read on because you will discover how to start taking the right course of action towards realizing your aspiration.

Here are the 7 Actionable steps To Realize Your Dream Home

1. You Have To Dream and Envision

One of the most effective ways to achieve your life’s goals is to have them and envision how it would be like with them as part of your accomplishments. This, among many things, could be a home you have been dreaming to build. It is never too late to wish for a roof on your head that you could call your own. But you would need to make the move towards attaining it. Nothing sets a clearer path to that end than having an aspiration that is visible to you.  

They said a dream is the starting point of something built in the future. Dream big and don’t stop chasing your dream.

The best quote that I always remember is, “No matter how slow you progress, so long as you do not stop.” 

Then follow your vision, someone said, “If there is no vision people perish.” 

2. Establish Your Goal

So, you have already decided to have a home as a wish and could even daydream about it. But what’s next? Make it a goal to be accomplished, of course. Wishing and imagining something alone are just good initial steps, but they do not necessarily make things come true. In many cases, you have to set it in stone and even take it as a guiding light towards a certain direction. In other words, make a strong reminder of your goal so that you are neither strayed away from it nor be dissuaded to discontinue when circumstances change as they usually do.  

The next important step is to set a goal. Let me define “Goal” first. “The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.”

Set a goal such as this, “I saved 1 million by Oct. 7 202-” or “I built my Dream Home by Oct. 7, 202-”. Set a 5 year goal or 10 year goal. A goal must have a date and time of its attainment. Don’t take this step for granted. This is very important.

3. Execute your goal or objective

It is easy enough to dream and fantasize and establish something as an endeavor that is considered worth undertaking. But that is just a plan and not an action. To truly give life to that goal, you must take the initiative. This, however, will entail not just one, not two, but a series of actions that will altogether consolidate towards building your objective. It may not necessarily be an easy feat, and probably what explains why many get stump on the previous two. However, just like what the age-old Nike tagline says: “Just do it”. Because it is in taking the risk that you make your set objective achievable.  

Some people set their goal but they are not executing it, Folks! I don’t want it to be you. Nike once said, “just do it.” 

Make discipline for this time, remember that you have a commitment to achieve your dream, to have a dream home. 

4. Hire a Professional 

There are many things in life that we could do. But unless you are an expert in construction, building a house from scratch may not be one of those. For this, you would want to charter people who are versed in that field. Creating a house from the ground up requires a lot of creativity, manpower, and effort, so it is in your best interest to have real professionals work on it. Otherwise, you risk getting a half-baked outcome, or worse.

Have you seen how stark the difference in the quality of the output done by amateurs versus the pros is? The disparity can be night and day, and it is well worth the extra cost of choosing the latter and not suffer the dismay that comes with getting something subpar by paying for it with less. 

Hire an engineer to create plans for your dream home. You need to do this step in order for you to always remember that there is a dream home that requires it to be done soon. 

Place the perspective of your dream home on your desktop, your room, anywhere to remind you of this goal. 

Look at your plans, architectural, structural, electrical, and sanitary or plumbing plans once in a while or every week or month or so that you will get excited to work every day.

Do not leave this step behind.

5. Save for a Budget

Money is the primary means you could make your dream house come to fruition. Because, unlike our dreams and imaginations, literally establishing a house requires tangible materials and manpower to it—both of which need cash. But there are ways you could pool your funds, and one of those is knowing how to save for future projects. Of course, there are faster ways about this, like taking a loan, and it is up to you if you would want to pursue that quicker route. 

This is part of your goal. If you have a budget already then you can do the next steps but if you haven’t yet start saving. 

It is nice to implement your strategy, you might save 10% of your monthly income in order to achieve this step. It might take a long time to save but at least you are ahead of those who didn’t and you will find later that you are on your way towards achieving the step to realize your dream home. 

You can adjust the 10% once your income increases. I am just giving you an idea of how to achieve this step but you can make your own strategy.

6. Purchase a Land

Part of the plan of having a home as real estate is also owning the land from which it will spring. Otherwise, you risk becoming an illegal settler, which itself comes with its later repercussions. You would not want that. Therefore, you would want to gain ownership over the land as well.  

 A house and the land where it stands from are inevitably inseparable, as far as legalities go. Logically, your investment should be first and foremost targeted at the specific land area on which you plan to build a house and not the other way around. You would not want to go through the complication of paying for the land later by realizing that the price has gone up since before establishing the building.

Real estate pricing is often volatile and landowners will take advantage of any given opportunity for greater revenue if they would want to make a profit out of it by selling. Be the wiser individual and not let such an exploit take advantage of you by pre-planning properly.  

Once you get the money from your savings try to find land. I was once an OFW and I did this step. I used my credit card to pay part of the whole amount of the land. I paid it forward and then paid the credit card loan on a monthly basis.

So it tends to come closer and closer to my goal. When I got the title of the land then I saved money again in order to realize my dream home.

7. Construct your Dream Home

You have finally done everything and are now ready to construct and flesh out your dream home. Pat yourself on the back, we know it has not been an easy undertaking. But while you rest easy in the idea of your home finally about to get built, the objective is not reached yet until it’s erected and livable. You are nearly there and that alone deserves some props. 

Now that you have all the land and the budget, no doubt you can start building your dream home. The first thing that you want to do is to find a legitimate contractor. If you are still abroad and you want to start your project while you are away you can also rely on a reliable contractor.

And that we can come in and help you realize your dream home in your home country. Just contact us and we will talk. And if you are working locally, we can also help you out personally just contact us.

Regardless of whether you are earning handsomely abroad or just getting by locally, it is worth noting that your dream house can be achieved mainly if you have the discipline for it. It is never easy choosing to establish your ideal residence, especially if you are starting from scratch. But that is what makes achieving it even sweeter.

There is victory in having to endure through the temptations to quit when you took the step towards it or in choosing to pursue it when you can choose not to at all. This is not to mention the potentially long journey that is leading to the ultimate result—your dream house. Yet, like everything else that keeps us on our toes, doing just that is worth it.  

So, are you the same person being talked about to in this article? If you are and are seeking help towards getting your dream house built, then look no further—we are here to help.  

When you are abroad, discipline yourself to save your income, and do not be tempted to go to parties every weekend or spend your income on unimportant things that may derail you from achieving and realizing your dream home. Get away from the crowd and do differently. You will be amazed at what will happen to your goal of having a dream home someday. Avoid committing major mistakes OFW makes while working abroad. Many OFWs committed major mistakes and I don’t want you to be one of them.

If you have questions regarding the 7 Actionable Steps to Realize Your Dream Home, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

I was once an OFW or Overseas Filipino Worker myself, and during my time as a construction worker in Dubai, I’ve noticed many “kababayans” (fellow countrymen) who have been in the same place for at least a decade. We talk about 10, 20, or for some others, as long as 30 years.

One day, I asked a “kababayan”: “You’ve been here for 30 years, then how’s your finances? Were you able to invest or save some money?

To my surprise, I got a very sad answer: “No savings and investment.”

For some people who spent a decade or more of their lives working abroad, I cannot fathom how they neither have the savings nor the investment with their hard-earned money. I thought I was being pranked—only they are not kidding about it.

Then, I realized, there is definitely something wrong in the picture here.

So, here are the “7 Major Mistakes OFW Make” during their working lifetime.

Mistake 1. They Don’t Plan (this is one of the major mistakes OFW make)

We all were taught to live in the present, which is indeed good. But many find the concept to be an excuse for not seeing things ahead and having plans about it. This is also pretty much applicable with our finances. If we do not prepare for the future with what we have now, chance is good that we would find ourselves in a very uncertain disposition when that which is to arrive does comes.

Mistake 2. No Saving Strategy

We are all entitled to spend all the money we earn. That’s the purpose of money, to begin with, after all. But it does not mean that we should overlook the option to keep some for the next day. One of the best formulas about saving is the “10/10/20/60” guideline, which suggests that 10% of our income goes to tithes or charities, 10% goes to paying debts, 20% goes to savings and investing, while the remaining 60% is used for all other expenses.

Mistake 3. No Strict Savings

The idea of saving money is such a popular concept that many adopt it in one form or another. But not everyone who do adheres to it, do so in complete faith. Others are easily tempted to take some money from their savings when the need for quick cash arise. If you are seriously considering of having a pool of funds to rely on in the distant future, it’s best practice to set aside a savings account which you cannot withdraw from for a certain period. Banks do actually offer this kind of service.

Mistake 4. Not Investing

Do you know why those who have money get more of it while those who have little to nothing of it find it hard to get more? The secret is investment, which requires money. By choosing to invest, you are somewhat metaphorically planting a seed that can grow into a plant, and then soon into a fruit-bearing tree. In other words, you would want to cultivate your hard-earned money through investment for the purpose of harvesting its revenues at a later date.

Mistake 5. No Plan for Building a Home (this is one of the major mistakes OFW make that you should correct)

A home is a necessity for every family as it is the place where a household grows. This makes a real estate, such as a house, so precious that many in the developed countries are even fighting tooth and nail for it.

But a home, unlike a car, is an asset, not a liability. This means that its value grows over time, not the opposite. Whether you plan to make a profit out of it someday or simply to offset the need to pay rent, building an abode with your earned money is one of the best financial decisions you can make.

The sum total of these major mistakes OFW make is that you do not DECIDE. Just decide and eventually, everything will happen.

Mistake 6. Splurging

Impulse buying is a common tendency among us, especially when we hold much money. But the real problem with the habit lies more on the idea of spending excessively—more so if you are not taking into account other expenses. The idea of choosing to stick with beans and rice just to get the latest iPhone is one example of why splurging is a bad practice about money. If you’re sound about money, you do not have to make such a compromise.

Mistake 7. Not investing in Real Estate or Buy a Land 

Earlier, we talked about how a roof to you or your family’s heads is such a precious asset. Now, question yourself this—where do houses erect from? The land, right? But lest you want to consider yourself an illegal settler or a squatter, you would also want to own the land where you would be establishing your house from. Even then, land, too, is also an asset that only seem to appreciate in value over time—thus, in a way, making it an investment.

Related Article:

1. 10 Greatest Reasons to Hire a General Contractor
2. 7 Advantages of Working with a Legitimate Contractor in Building Your Project

We all want to live a life without worries about money that we developed the mentality to be carefree about it. But while it does provide us momentary bliss, this kind of mindset is erratic and only creates a setback for us in the future. The one thing there is about money is that when we care about it, it also has a way of caring back to us when the time comes.

Conversely, when we become too passive about money, it, too, will become dismissive of us. Not to the point of loving money for riches’ sake, but it pays to be wise in how we handle our current wealth, with those we care about and the uncertain future as primary concerns.

Did you make the above 7 major mistakes OFW make while working abroad? If so, please avoid the said mistakes and become wealthy. Please share this good information with your friends.

If you enjoyed reading the article, please do share this with your social media network. Thank you.

If you want us to help you find land or build your home, please don’t hesitate to contact us.